Talk:Brutus Scrimgeour
Date of death Apparently, Brutus' portrait first appears in PoA in "The Quest of Sir Cadogan" extra feature on Disc 2 (he's not in the main film I believe). This means he must be dead by 1993/94 as all the Hogwarts portraits are of deceased individuals (per JKR - http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2004/0804-ebf.htm). However, there is a review blurb in Quidditch Through the Ages (real) from him, and the book mentions events from 1994. In order to reconcile these facts, I suggest that either his review was for a previous edition of the book, or that he provided it as a ghost. Overall, I believe his presence in a portrait is more definitive and his death should be prior to 1993/1994 (depending on when exactly "The Quest of Sir Cadogan" takes place). --Ironyak1 (talk) 22:09, April 27, 2016 (UTC) I´m inclined to think that the review was for a previous edition then. The only other possibility I can think of is that he stayed as a ghost, but this should only be noted in the BTS section.--Rodolphus (talk) 06:39, April 28, 2016 (UTC) :The simplest explanation is that Scrimgeour's review of Quidditch Through the Ages was written prior to his death. Professional critics tend to only review books upon their initial release, so subsequent editions of a book will often simply reprint those initial reviews on the cover or praise page(s). It might also be the case that Scrimgeour was a highly respected authority on Quidditch during his life, and maintained this reputation after his death, and thus his praise was included because his name still carries recognition and respect. ★ Starstuff (Owl me!) 00:36, May 2, 2016 (UTC) ::Agreed about the earlier edition blurb - although finding the timeframe to both allow for this blurb and slot him in as a headmaster could be challenging. QTTA also has a blurb from Ludovic Bagman saying "Bet you anything it'll be a bestseller" which sounds like it would only be provided for a first edition. Given Bagman's age in the series, QTTA has to be first printed in the mid-to late 1900's so Brutus Scrimgeour has to be alive at a similar time. However him also serving as Headmaster is constrained by the Dippet & Dumbledore succession. Brutus might be part of a series of short-serving Headmasters (like Newt Scamander) that need to be slotted in between PN Black and Dippet so all these timeframes work out. Have to see what kind of magic JKR can conjure to fit all this together! --Ironyak1 (talk) 01:41, May 2, 2016 (UTC) :::That Brutus Scrimgeour once served as headmaster isn't something found in the books, nor has it been revealed by J. K. Rowling in an interview or on Pottermore, so purists wouldn't consider it canon. However, under our canon policy, information from the films, video games, Wizarding World theme parks, and other officially-licensed "products" (for want of a better term) can be treated as canon, so long as it doesn't directly contradict the books or statements by J. K. Rowling. :::I'd forgotten about the Ludo Bagman quote. The caption on the quote describes him as the "England and Wimborne Wasps Beater," which suggests Quidditch Through the Ages was published, at earliest, in the summer of 1994, when Bagman served as a Beater for the English National Quidditch Team. This raises the question of how Brutus Scrimgeour was able to review the book, since, in order for his portrait to have appeared in a bonus feature on Disc 2 of the DVD release of Prisoner of Azbaban, he would have had to be dead by the end of the 1993-1994 school year (i.e., June 1994). It's possible he reviewed a draft manuscript of the book before his death. Seems probable that Whisp would've sought the input of other Quidditch aficionados while writing the book. It's not uncommon for advance copies or manuscripts to be given to other authors (or other experts in the topic the book covers) for review before a book's official publication, so that publisher has positive quotes to include in the first edition. :::Brutus's tenure as headmaster logically must have predated that of Dippet. And he presumably took up writing about Quidditch sometime after he retired. ★ Starstuff (Owl me!) 02:39, May 2, 2016 (UTC) ::::Nice catch on the "England" detail in the caption, but I believe we know Bagman played for England as far back as c. 1982 because the juror at his trial congratulated him on his performance for England against Turkey (I had to go look it up in GF30 to be sure :). As such, Bagman's blurb and the first publication of QTTA could be at least this early which gives Brutus more time to provide his review blurb before passing away prior to 1993/1994. ::::I know these timeframes are not strictly canon (as they stitch together book, movie and exhibition references) but I hope JKR takes some of this into account when refining her explanations of events. It seemed that the Lexicon was able to help guide some of the production details so one can hope the wiki might provide a similar source for questions and concerns about cohesion and consistency. (PS really nice work on this article - learned a lot about details to consider while watching the revisions) Cheers --Ironyak1 (talk) 06:42, May 2, 2016 (UTC) ::::Quick thought - it's possible that Bagman's blurb about betting that QTTA will be a bestseller is about the new "Muggle" edition (we know he needed money after 1994 :), while Scrimgeour's blurb could be for any edition going back to 1952. As noted, there's no need for all the review blurbs to be provided at the same time. --Ironyak1 (talk) 08:42, May 3, 2016 (UTC)